The Basics: A Quick Guide to Recruitment-Related Roles

The Recruitment Process involves a lot of steps; to maximize efficiency, many of these steps are handled by people other than the recruitment consultant. People thinking about entering the recruitment industry, either within an agency or in-house, have a number of things to consider. The most important is that each role has a different focus and might require slightly different skillsets and personality characteristics.

Each company has variations on these roles – there is no 100% industry standard. For example, in one company a Researcher might be responsible for researching many industry things including where to find candidates, and in another company he might be responsible for researching everything EXCEPT where to find candidates. In general, though, there is a basic consistency within roles from one company to the next. Hopefully, the following will help you understand better whether you can find a fit for your own personality and experience.

People thinking about entering the recruitment industry, either within an agency or in-house, might have a number of options to consider.

Recruitment Consultant/Recruiter/Consultant/Talent Acquisition (TA) Specialist

Recruitment Consultants have done multiple roles on the way to getting their title including Data and Phone Research, Sourcing, Coordinating, Business Development, Account Management, and much more. This role requires much perseverance, a passion for people, and the patience to deal with a long sales cycle. People who don`t mind rejection, feel happy/comfortable talking to new people, and are good at multi-tasking could be good candidates for this job.

Researcher (Data)

Responsible for breaking down and organizing each industry sector and the companies within them, identifying target companies for business development and candidate sourcing, checking for industry event attendees, etc. This role has little interaction with clients nor candidates so requires much less in terms of presentation/interpersonal communication skills. Requires intelligence and a natural ability to keep things organized.

Researcher (Phone)

Phone research involves collection of various kinds of data through the phone, often filling in data Data Researchers couldn’t get. Usually on the phone calling other companies to ask questions, like what is the organizational structure of the company, who works there, and lots of other stuff. Typically passes off data collected to Candidate Sourcers, Business Development, and Recruitment Consultants. Must be a creative and very confident communicator.

Candidate Sourcer

Mainly tasked with identifying, reaching out to, and engaging with new candidates in an effort to build the database of candidates and support TA/Recruiters in filling roles. Requires a lot of written and spoken communication with strangers via email and phone. The best Sourcers tend to enjoy speaking with new people and developing new relationships. Organizational and multi-tasking skills can be useful.

Candidate Coordinator/Candidate Manager/Candidate Advisor/Relationship Manager

This person will typically handle candidates who are already known to the agency/enterprise or who are applying directly via job board or web site. Often tasked with managing candidate interview scheduling with recruiters, clients, or internal/external line managers. Good social skills, patience, and an enjoyment of meeting people are a must for this type of work.

Account/Client Manager

Acts as a bridge between clients and consultant teams. Expected to communicate and work closely with clients to understand their needs & requirements, manage their expectations, and ensure recruitment team understands and executes accordingly. Requires great people and organizational skills as well as a lot of patience.

Back Office Administration(HR, Finance, Accounting, etc.)

Focused on miscellaneous business processes and paperwork related to internal accounting, finance, HR, as well as anything else that needs to get done. Need close attention to detail and general professional competence. Often these roles are trained for internally but sometimes they require pre-existing skills depending on the core job focus.

Sales/Contract Administration

Similar to Back Office Admin but with a focus on handling client and candidate contracts, most frequently for agencies that do RPO and (non-permanent) contract employee introductions. This role interfaces frequently with the consulting team, the back office team, as well as candidates and sometimes clients so demands a higher comfort level with meeting and communicating with new people.

Talent Acquisition/Attraction (Internal Hiring)

Recruitment in general is all about Talent Acquisition but someone with the title of Talent Acquisition/Attraction is usually doing recruitment for internal roles rather than for external clients. So a TA could be working within an agency to find new consultants, sourcers, researchers, etc. to work within that agency. Or she could be working within an enterprise to find sales, marketing, technical, back office, and whatever other staff and management needed to keep their business operating.In any case, her hiring efforts will be focused on behalf of a single client rather than multiple clients.

Business Development (BD)

Recruitment Consultants are usually required to do a lot of their own BD, especially in smaller companies. Some companies, however, have stand-alone BD specialists completely focused on identifying, reaching out to, and selling to prospective client companies. BD are typically very good presenters who enjoy sales. They will ideally have experience in recruitment but sometimes just a conceptual understanding of recruitment is required, along with a strong understanding of the company`s solutions.

MarketingManager/Specialist

Responsible for handling how a company presents online via its web site, job boards, social media like LinkedIn, etc. This might include inbound and outbound marketing. Likely also responsible for putting together real world special events, brochures and presentations used for external purposes, as well as training materials and documents used internally. Previous experience within the recruitment industry is helpful but not always necessary. Creativity, a mind for marketing, and proficiency with some specialty SW are definitely required.

Training/Learning & Development

Recruitment is an industry where a lot of non-experienced people are hired, so good training and development can help ensure any new joiners are able to ramp up and contribute quickly. But training is also important for well-experienced consultants; this training can be focused on new parts of the job they haven`t done before, new processes the company has recently adopted and need to roll out to the whole organization, new marketing materials, and a lot else. A Trainer will typically be promoted internally unless they already have good knowledge of the industry.

RPO/Onsite Recruiter

Similar to Talent Acquisition/Attraction – but an RPO recruiter is someone who is sent from an agency to work on-site within a client`s hiring department.

Employee Engagement Manager

Focused on how to make the working environment a better place through the introduction of programs like employee recognition, employee wellness, company activities, buddy systems, themed office days, etc. She will likely have experience already within HR. Often promoted internally because of her positive pre-existing relationships already developed within the company. Definitely a smart, organized, people person who is patient, creative, and naturally good at teaching.

HR Business Partner

Aligns a company`s human resource policies with overall organizational goals, partners with company leaders, and deals with things like hiring strategy, change management, learning and development, and a host of other responsibilities. HR BPs are really sharp people who communicate really well and have a passion for developing an organization`s most important asset – it`s people.

HR Generalist/Manager

Usually works within a smaller organization handling a range of tasks related to HR including recruiting or working with external recruitment agents, onboarding new hires, handling various employee documentation and compensation matters, and much more. Need to be smart, very patient, organized, and communicate well.